cpu thermal paste applied in a wrong way

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kenny1999

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the cpu i am using is an intel i5 cpu. I applied a few grain of thermal paste to the surface of heatsink (where it meets the cpu) and then spread it with a credit card, and then install the heatsink on top of cpu. I would like to know if the thermal paste will leak to the CPU?? is the thermal paste sticky enough?? since i've spread the thermal paste on the side of heatsink first and then putting it onto the top of the CPU,....

now it looks like the computer working fine, but i don't know if there is already any intermittent problem..
 
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Always apply the thermal compound to the CPU itself, *not* the heatsink. Place a small amount (half the size of a pea) in the center of the CPU after it's placed in the MoBo socket; don't spread it. When you place the HSF onto the MoBo, the weight/pressure of tightening it will spread it the proper way.
 
You really are over thinking everything. The heatspreader on the CPU has a pretty thick layer of rubber 'caulk' that binds it to the CPU and covers the core. If you used WAY too much paste it could squeeze out of the edges and get into the socket, but you'd be really going intentionally overboard with it for this to be the case.

You could always pop off the HSF and see where the spread ended up and then reattach if you were worried about it. I'd re-do it and apply to the CPU instead of the HSF instead.

i don't know if there is already any intermittent problem..
Click to expand...

If you haven't been having problems then you haven't been having problems.
 
nothing wrong with that method at all.as long as you didnt put too much on and the temps are ok i wouldnt worry.ive seen some pretty ugly applications of paste that havent hurt anything.
 
imsati said:
Always apply the thermal compound to the CPU itself, *not* the heatsink. Place a small amount (half the size of a pea) in the center of the CPU after it's placed in the MoBo socket; don't spread it. When you place the HSF onto the MoBo, the weight/pressure of tightening it will spread it the proper way.
Click to expand...

That's the way a did it too a few times and my CPU's run cool as it should be
 
It's typically recommended to just do a little dab of it in the middle of the chip then apply the cooler and have the pressure spread the paste out. It doesn't need to be over every square millimeter of the chip as most of the heat comes from the center anyway. What temperatures is your processor getting to at load? You can use HWMonitor to check it.

Here's a good video to show how thermal paste spreads.

[UT]EyXLu1Ms-q4[/UT]
 
If you put a small amount on, you did it right. I never even spread it. If it goes over the sides, no big deal. Just don't let to much go over the sides, or it could get to the bottom.
 
I pull out the heatsink a couple of times because it was difficult to push it down tightly to the motherboard, but I forgot to clean the thermal paste left on the surface of heatsink before doing that, so I don't know if the thermal paste could leak to the CPU.

BTW, I'd like to take this chance to raise my concern again - The burnt smell.

I sometimes find little burnt smell coming from my desktop PC but the smell is very short and not strong. I am quite pretty sure that the smell is coming from the chassis.... but as I open it and sniff inside the chassis, I couldn't sniff anything, no smell at all.. I really don't understand why , and this special phenomenon has lasted for quite a few months... I am not too sensitive but I am very sure that some little weak odor like burnt smell coming from my PC case.

What can I do now? By looking at the PC with naked eyes and sniffing it closely, I couldn't find any problems
 
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